Days before President Donald Trump’s term ended, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un called the United States “his country’s” enemy “while threatening to expand its nuclear arsenal, state media reported on Saturday.
“Our foreign political activities must focus on our archenemy and the fundamental obstacle to our revolutionary development, the United States,” said Kim at the 8th Congress of the Korean Workers’ Party, reported the Central News Agency of Korea.
“Efforts will focus on dominating them and bringing them to their knees,” he added.
Kim has already been courted by Trump, who reflected in 2018 that the pair “fell in love” after exchanging letters.
Download the NBC News app for breaking news and politics
Trump’s comments came after the pair held a historic summit in Singapore to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula in June of that year. A second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, ended early, with the two men unable to reach an agreement.
Any cordiality among the leaders appears to have diminished on Saturday, as Kim also released a list of developing high-tech weapon systems, although he insisted that his country was a “responsible nuclear state” and would not abuse its weapons unless was threatened.
In an apparent attempt to also put pressure on President-elect Joe Biden’s next administration, Kim said: “Whoever takes office in the United States, their basic and hostile political nature will never change.”
Relations between North Korea and the United States would depend on “a withdrawal of the United States from its hostile policy,” he added.
Biden, who will take office on January 20, had previously called Kim a “thug” and criticized his summit meetings with President Trump. It is unlikely that he will hold direct meetings with Kim, unless the North Korean leader takes significant denuclearization measures.
Among the sophisticated weapon systems listed as being developed by Kim, were missiles from various warheads, nuclear missiles launched from submarines and spy satellites.
The State Department declined to comment.
It is not clear whether the secretive communist state is capable of developing such systems. Information on one of the most cloistered countries in the world is sparse and estimates of the exact status of its nuclear and missile programs vary widely.
In 2018, the South Korean government said North Korea had up to 60 nuclear weapons.
Kim spoke for nine hours during the Workers’ Party congress, the first in five years, KCNA reported.
Congress is the party’s main decision-making body and arises amid a number of challenges for the country, including a fragile economy, the coronavirus pandemic and US-led sanctions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
